Sci-fi greenlights STARGATE: UNIVERSE

[Harvey]

Is there anything they could come up that couldn't possibly be compared to another show?

At this stage, probably not. All we have to go off of is a paragraph. Little more than a log line. When so little is known, the comparison is easy to draw.

When more details start to emerge, and especially when the pilot airs, then the comparisons will either be forgotten or solidified. No need to get all defensive about this. Yet.

I loved that "yet" part since it's been happening ever since the first news of this series leaked some time ago long before the series was greenlit. The same thing was said about Atlantis and I don't think Atlantis was anything like Voyager.

I think Atlantis was more often compared to Deep Space Nine, no? And, anyway, the comparison there doesn't really hold. Atlantis has been it's own thing, with it's own virtues and own set of problems.

And of course this nickname has been used since the first news leaked out--really, plot wise, it's the only news that's leaked out. A ship. Cut off from home. In a distant part of the universe. The third (modern) permutation of a science fiction franchise. Hmm...what does that sound like?

We honestly haven't learned anything about the series since that piece of information came out. Brad Wright saying Stargate could go on forever or mentioning that Universe is being made with a younger audience in mind doesn't really tell us a lot. Until we have more to go on, Stargate: Voyager will do just as well as an admittedly snarky nickname. Like Fargate before it, the name will probably be dropped once the show is out.

 

[DWF]

The third (modern) permutation of a science fiction franchise. Hmm...what does that sound like?

The Lone Gunmen, The Sarah Jane Adventures are also the third permutation of modern shows as well, true none of them are set on a spaceship but my point still stands if the show were set on earth it'd be compared to an earth based show like The X-Files. For example they could've made a show about the NID.

A ship. Cut off from home. In a distant part of the universe.

So Battlestar Galactica should've been compared to Voyager as well.

Until we have more to go on, Stargate: Voyager will do just as well as an admittedly snarky nickname. Like Fargate before it, the name will probably be dropped once the show is out.

I hope so but you know it's the better part of a year before Universe comes out?

 

[Harvey]

Battlestar Galactica should be compared to Voyager. In many ways I imagine it as Voyager if Ronald D. Moore had complete control.

I know it will be a better part of a year until Universe comes out, but hopefully we get some more substantial details before then. And even if we don't... is it really worth it to get upset over a deriding nickname on the internet?

 

[Guy Gardener]

remember how shit "Attack of the Clones" sounded back in 2002?

Just takes a little while to constitutionalize these things.

Although obviously the show should have been named after the ship, if they're going to be astuck on it.

 

[DWF]

Battlestar Galactica should be compared to Voyager. In many ways I imagine it as Voyager if Ronald D. Moore had complete control.

I know it will be a better part of a year until Universe comes out, but hopefully we get some more substantial details before then. And even if we don't... is it really worth it to get upset over a deriding nickname on the internet?

I think you missed my point completely, sure people are going to compare it to something else but it's all to simple a thing to do and IMO it's already gotten alittle old in the case of Universe, It's also kind of funny that people want the show to be developed properly but are unwilling to wait for the show to come out before labeling it, it's not like the Voyager comparisons are made out of love of Voyager.

 

[Harvey]

It's also kind of funny that people want the show to be developed properly but are unwilling to wait for the show to come out before labeling it, it's not like the Voyager comparisons are made out of love of Voyager.

I think it's a matter of realism (or cynicism, depending on your point-of-view).

I would love for Universe to be developed properly, but I have almost no faith that it will happen. Obviously you feel differently, but you and I clearly have different views on the course the franchise has taken in the past 3-4 years. But, as it is with all things, we'll see what happens. I would love to be blown away by Universe when it premieres. I'm not in the business of deriding Stargate for the sake of deriding it as are some. I want it to be good again. But with each passing season of ultimately empty promises that things will be "shaken up" or that there will be a "game changer" I seriously doubt anything the current crop of writers bring to the fold.

Occasionally, I've been surprised. I could name perhaps ten episodes of Stargate produced during seasons 9 and 10 of SG-1 and 2-4 of Atlantis (watching on DVD, season five eludes me) that are some of the best the franchise has ever made. "Tabula Rasa," for example, came at me out of nowhere, with a forgettable premise, but a smart and creative execution. But ten episodes out of 100 produced is in no way the consistency I want out of the Stargate franchise.

 

[DWF]

"Tabula Rasa," for example, came at me out of nowhere, with a forgettable premise,

LOL!!! Sorry but I just that was a funny line.

Occasionally, I've been surprised. I could name perhaps ten episodes of Stargate produced during seasons 9 and 10 of SG-1 and 2-4 of Atlantis (watching on DVD, season five eludes me) that are some of the best the franchise has ever made.

Well I haven't been counting the good and bad, but I do think that seasons 3 and 4 of SGA have been marginally better than the first two whereas with SG1 I thought 90% or more of the entire series has been very consistant, but then SGA isn't SG1. I think in the end not having another Stargate series on the air will help Universe and I'm looking forward to learning about the new show.

 

[Harvey]

"Tabula Rasa," for example, came at me out of nowhere, with a forgettable premise,

LOL!!! Sorry but I just that was a funny line.

What can I say?

The summary on the DVD box makes it sound like a completely forgettable episode, but the execution (IMO) was excellent.

Or did you just not like the episode?

Occasionally, I've been surprised. I could name perhaps ten episodes of Stargate produced during seasons 9 and 10 of SG-1 and 2-4 of Atlantis (watching on DVD, season five eludes me) that are some of the best the franchise has ever made.

Well I haven't been counting the good and bad, but I do think that seasons 3 and 4 of SGA have been marginally better than the first two whereas with SG1 I thought 90% or more of the entire series has been very consistent, but then SGA isn't SG1. I think in the end not having another Stargate series on the air will help Universe and I'm looking forward to learning about the new show.

I thought Atlantis was a lot stronger in season one, when it was cut off from Earth. Introducing the Daedalus, the replicators, Earth-based stories, Richard Woolsey, replacing Weir with Carter and then Woolsey, including guest appearances by Teal'c and O'niell (and now Daniel Jackson), and hyping up the team dynamic in interviews (in season three especially)... The show has been trying to become SG-1 for three years, when it should have spent that time settling on its own voice.

And when it does find its own voice, it has been quickly squandered (Cowin, Koyla, the rest of the Genii, Carson Beckett). I have a hard time believing these writers stumbled onto the character of Todd, because he's so interesting, multi-faceted, fun...and he wasn't killed off after a couple of apperances!

 

[Darth_Daver]

remember how shit "Attack of the Clones" sounded back in 2002?

so.... you're saying Attack of the Clones is good now?

 

[DWF]

The summary on the DVD box makes it sound like a completely forgettable episode, but the execution (IMO) was excellent.

Or did you just not like the episode?

No, you're missing the irony of your own statement it's ep. where the cast forgot their names, kind of making it a forgettable premise. And I liked the ep. personally.

I thought Atlantis was a lot stronger in season one, when it was cut off from Earth. Introducing the Daedalus, the replicators, Earth-based stories, Richard Woolsey, replacing Weir with Carter and then Woolsey, including guest appearances by Teal'c and O'niell (and now Daniel Jackson), and hyping up the team dynamic in interviews (in season three especially)... The show has been trying to become SG-1 for three years, when it should have spent that time settling on its own voice.

And when it does find its own voice, it has been quickly squandered (Cowin, Koyla, the rest of the Genii, Carson Beckett). I have a hard time believing these writers stumbled onto the character of Todd, because he's so interesting, multi-faceted, fun...and he wasn't killed off after a couple of apperances!

Woolsey has been a great addition so far and they're doing the little things with him that they should've done with Weir, for a leader Weir nobody listened to her and she really was an underdeveloped character IMO. Beckett was a more interesting character and more useful when he wasn't a regular now that he's back to being a reaccuring character he's back to being a more interesting and useful one. In Robert Davi's last ep. he had his own idea of how to bring him back from the dead and there was a rumor that he would return, death has never stopped them before.

And Todd like like all other of Stargate's reaccuring characters works alittle at a time and if you look at even SG1's history they've brought in characters used them for a while then wrote them off in some manner including Tanith, Martouf, Dr. Fraser, Jacob Carter, Narim among others and they've had to leave the show for one reason or another and the Stargate storyline just moves forward.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Y'know what's weird is seeing so many fans describe this as "Stargate Voyager" just because they're stuck so far from home. No- think about it. They're stuck on a vessel working its way through its own course, and only come into range of planets for a short while then pass on...

That's not Voyager, that's Space 1999!

 

[Gepard]

so.... you're saying Attack of the Clones is good now?

Compared with the movies that flanked it? Yes. Yes indeed.

 

[Turbo]

Y'know what's weird is seeing so many fans describe this as "Stargate Voyager" just because they're stuck so far from home. No- think about it. They're stuck on a vessel working its way through its own course, and only come into range of planets for a short while then pass on...

That's not Voyager, that's Space 1999!

I already tried to point this out, and my point got buried. Good luck.

 

[Tyson]

Haha, wow. This is going to be hilariously bad even by Stargate standards, I look forward to seeing the fanbase of this parody franchise churn in anger at being once again, left out of the joke.

 

[James Bond]

Gateworld reports that Universe will begin filming in February.

 

[Skywalker]

so.... you're saying Attack of the Clones is good now?

Compared with the movies that flanked it? Yes. Yes indeed.

Ack, no way. AOTC is easily the worst of the prequels.